Prophesy
by lolita of tehran
Summary: Yuna, the most beautiful woman in all of Spira, has never taken charge of her life. With one life shattering choice she decides to take contol,running away with a man she barely knows, destroying everything she's loved. Based on the myth of Helen of Troy.
1. Default Chapter

**edit I just edited the first chapter. Mostly the same, a few minor changes. **

Disclaimer - If I owned any part of FFX, I would certainly have my own house and move out a s a p. I didn't write the song either. It's from House of Flying Daggers. Yes, I know I left some of it out.

_Note from the Author: This is just a little story that popped into my head one day. Actually, it's an epic tale, I believe first told by Homer. I'm not certain about that, so don't get all mad if I'm wrong! Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, runs away with the Trojan prince Paris when the gods mess with their fate. Leaving her powerful husband, Menelaus behind, Helen becomes Paris's consort. Angered at Paris for stealing his wife from right under his nose, Greek Menelaus leads a huge war on Greece that lasts about ten years. A legendary love set against the backdrop of brutal war inspired me to put a final fantasy twist on it. If you don't know much about the plot, I suggest you read up a little on it first, but even if you aren't up to that, I'll make this fic easy to understand anyway. No worries._

_-liz_

Yuna of Bevelle gazed longingly at the midnight blue sky, bedazzled with sparkling stars. Reaching her pale, slender arm out of the high window, she felt the balmy night breeze against her arm, a rare pleasure in her sheltered life. The strong sandstone castle that was built around her looked welcoming enough. However, she thought, if you were forced to spend every waking moment there from now until the end of her days, never setting foot outside, with no friends, and a husband you did not love…

Beautiful Yuna didn't finish her thought. Her life was supposed to be a charmed one. Prophets of Yevon had foretold her great loveliness, going into meticulous detail. It was written in the teachings of Praetor,

"_A rare beauty born in the North...  
She's the finest lady on earth.   
There is no city or nation that has been  
More cherished than a beauty like this…"_

The prophecy had gone into further detail, describing the beauty of her bi-coloured eyes, the way the woman would win renown for her country and family. Every family had hoped that their daughter would be the one to bring fame and wealth raining down upon them. At every birth, the midwife would sing the prophecy, in hopes that it would come true. Richer families had practitioners of Praetor present at birth, just in case an official announcement that the beauty had been born needed to be made.

To be the most beautiful woman in all of Spira was the destiny Yuna had tried to fill from the time she was born. With her father in the position of High Summoner, any female child born to him would be a very wealthy debutante, thrust into high class social functions and the like. Ever since the prophecy was foretold, it was a custom among such aristocratic men to have Official Maesters, as well as the practitioner, at the birth of their children to determine if they fit the teaching, and it was no different at young Yuna's birth. Before even her Al Bhed mother could hold her child in her arms, Yuna was snatched away and examined. Her mother's cries of pain and desire to hold her child mingled with the elderly mid-wife's song. _"A rare beauty born in the North…" _

As her calm, wide eyes opened for the first time to reveal deep forest green and clear ocean blue, Yuna's fate was sealed.

As her mother lay dying of childbed fever, Yuna was blessed in Yevon's temple and shown to the world to be what the people were waiting for: a beauty. Just like that, for simply fulfilling some stupid mutterings of old men of foretold fairness, she was launched into a whirlwind of politics to further her father, Braska's, position in Spiran government. The High Summoner was entertaining fathers who eagerly sought Yuna's hand in marriage for their wealthy sons since she turned age eleven. The only reason Yuna would ever marry would not be for love, but for power, and her darling dad played the marriage field with the utmost cunning and look-out for his own gain. After all, what other use was there for such a pretty face?

Growing up with no mother was certainly a difficult task, but clever Braska had invited his wife's sister to live with them so there would be a female influence in Yuna's life to ensure the oracle was correct about _"finest lady on Earth."_ Growing up solely around men would not obtain the needed elegance for the most beautiful woman in Spira.

Unfortunately, Yuna's aunt died only three short years into Yuna's life. Instead of hiring a nanny of sorts, her father instead allowed her aunt's daughter, Rikku, to stay on with them. The cousins formed a fast bond of friendship, tested so many times when Yuna was paid all the attention and Rikku was left in the shadows of Yuna's unusually bright but undesired fate.

Recalling her so-far miserable life, Yuna continued to stare out the window. Beauty is a curse, she thought bitterly. It has brought me no great joy in life to be beautiful. You'd think that a woman written about in song and Praetor and Yevon's teachings before she was even born would get the happily ever after she'd always dreamed of. Yuna heard her drunken Guado husband, Seymour, trudging his way heavily up the stairs to where she was. She had simply been a bargaining tool for her father, to gain the trust of the people of Guadosalam, whom had been feuding with her native Bevelle for ages. She was given away in marriage without any say in what she wanted, which was just as well. She didn't know what she wanted.

As the intoxicated man locked her in a clumsy embrace, Yuna froze. She hated him, her husband of only a few hours. She hated him with all her heart. She hated his arrogance, and the way he showed her off like a prize jewel rather than a person. She hated his tattooed face, cold eyes, and long nailed fingers. His shallow person only cared for wealth and power, and, although Yuna had no idea what she wanted, she knew that this wasn't it.

The choice is simple, he thought to himself. Just pick one. In a familiar habit, Prince Tidus ran his hand over the back of his hair, ruffling it slightly. The decision seemed simple enough. Each leader of the new religion had come before him and asked him to pledge his support to them, by having Zanarkand follow that religion. In return for pledging to them, what would he gain?

Nooj of the Youth League offered him three legions of machina to assist in the re-creation and restoration of Zanarkand, and help defend against invaders. Baralai, leader of New Yevon, would give the people of Zanarkand prayers, every day, and aid them in times of need. Gippal, head of the Al Bhed, was making his proposal as Tidus was thinking.

"Al Bhed's not really much of a religion," the blonde man with the eye patch was saying. "It's more… eh… how should I say this? It's more of a way of life. Granted, before the Calm, Yevon and those freaky teaching things were a way of life, too. Now," he continued on, adjusting some knobs on his machina as he spoke, "make Al Bhed a way of life in Zanarkand, a new Home and shelter for us, and we'll give you what every other man in all of Spira wants."

"What's that?" asked Tidus eagerly. He knew he should probably be a bit more careful. Gippal could be tricky sometimes.

"Just think, mate: the most beautiful woman in the entire world..." Gippal extended his arms in front of himself and made a grand sweeping motion around the throne room. "You already have all of this, plenty of machina to protect your subjects, and prayers--" Gippal kind of chuckled. "When you have the woman foretold in prophecies by praetors of Yevon before she was even born, do you really think you'll need anyone's prayers besides hers?"

He didn't want to make a rash decision, not now. His father the king had entrusted him with this task, and to mess it up would not be wise. Turning to Gippal, he asked, "How can I be sure this woman will be mine?"

Laughing more to himself than to Tidus, Gippal replied, "I think, Prince, that you'll find very quickly that we Al Bhed know how to get what we want."

It was a beautiful wedding, to be sure, Yuna thought later as she laid in bed with Seymour beside her. A true fable-like wedding, like the ones she'd wanted when she was a child, before she'd learned of harsh reality.

Braska had ordered flowers brought in from the Calm Lands, and he had the petals scattered all along the long walkway up to the highest tower in Bevelle, where she and Seymour were married. Rikku had helped her dress in her radiant white gown, with no straps, and cut short in the front. A long train trailed behind her, and it was also Rikku's job to carry it as she processed down the aisle.

"It'll all turn out all right, Yunie," Rikku had murmured softly, as she attached the feathery wings to the back of the dress. The feathers were the most expensive and luxurious in the land, plucked from the wild, dangerous white chocobo, which were only found on a certain mountain in Gagazet. Yuna sadly wondered how many ronso had died just to find feathers for her dress, and wished for the thousandth time her father had not insisted on the feathers.

Just as her Al Bhed cousin adjusted the last pin, Yuna had turned to Rikku and squeezed her in a tight hug. "I don't want to do this, Rikku," she whispered as a single, pearly tear cascaded down her cheek.

Holding her cousin close, Rikku reassured her. "Oh Yunie, it'll all turn out okay. When a girl's as pretty as you, how can it not?"

That was only a few hours before, and yet, Yuna had only believed Rikku for a few moments, it seemed. Rising from under the sheet and covering herself with a heavy robe despite the humid summer heat, Yuna walked over to her vanity, where she had placed her husband's wedding gift to her. A mirror- what a perfect present to give a wife you only saw the surface of.

Looking in it, Yuna saw herself, and wondered why everyone thought her to be so exceptional. Although seventeen years old, she was still a girl, still a child. In Yuna's opinion, there was nothing wondrous about her. Why couldn't Rikku have been the most gorgeous woman in her place? She certainly was prettier, after all, with her blonde hair and swirly green eyes. Why did destiny pick her to toy with? Seymour stirred only a few steps away, and Yuna wondered silently, was this how the rest of her life was to be?

Tears filled her eyes. Wasn't she worth more than this dull, dreary life everyone else had chosen for her? For once, just once, Yuna wanted to make a decision on her own, and take charge of her own life.

A/N: Hoped you liked it so far! A bit short, I know. Sorry. Leave me a review. Praise, suggestions, flames, and update requests are all welcome! If you're familiar with the original tale, here's the cast to help you relate:

Yuna- Helen

Tidus- Paris

Rikku- Penelope

Gippal- Aphrodite in a way/ Odysseus

Seymour- Menelaus

Nooj- Hera

Baralai- Athena

More when more characters are introduced!

liz


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- I am not Homer. Nor do I own any part of Final Fantasy or Squaresoft or Square Enix. Hard to believe, I know.

_Another author's note: Sorry this took so long, guys. I decided to keep it a Yuna/ Tidus centric fic, because I didn't want to make it Rikku/ Gippal centric, so if I made Rikku Helen, Paris would still be Tidus. Tikkus have grown on me, but I didn't especially want to write one… so yes. Onto the fic…_

_-liz_

_Ahh! Almost forgot. There's some Al Bhed in this, so go to google or yahoo, whatever, and search for "Al Bhed Translator," if you don't speak it fluently. Haha. _**Caa oy!**

It was early morning, and the light was just beginning to reach all the corners of the palace courtyard. Rikku, who was supposed to be picking pomegranates and apples for Yuna's breakfast-- symbols of fertility and love, traditional wedding-morning nourishment—was instead lying facedown on the edge of the fountain, watching the cool water trickle from the stone mouth of the cherubic child of the faith into the basin below. Built in the middle of the courtyard, the fountain was large and luxuriant. Cemented into the bottom of the pool, between the tiles, were clusters of sapphires and diamonds, giving the already shimmering water a opulent luster.

Rikku's cheek rested against the stone, as she trailed her fingers in the fresh water, half-full basket of fruit lying beside her. She was half humming, half singing a song in Al Bhed. _"Frana yna oui huf_ _fro ys e rayn fyedehk vun oui..." _

Her normally keen senses were off-guard, and she didn't notice anyone else around until they had snuck up on her and grabbed her from behind, pulling her off the fountain edge.

"_Rao_!" she screamed, instinctively punching the person in the stomach. Not expecting this at all, the person stumbled, still clasping Rikku, and they both toppled over, into the fountain.

"Eww," exclaimed Rikku, who hated getting her hair wet. She had spent all last night braiding it and adding new, crystal beads. It wasn't like she had much else to do, though; Yunie wasn't around to talk to… too busy entertaining her husband.

Wiping the water out of her eyes, Rikku turned to see who the intruder was. Blonde hair as gravity-defying as ever, the leader of the Al Bhed stood before her, sputtering and wet, looking mildly amused.

'Gippal!" Rikku shrieked, jumping on him, toppling them once more into the water.

This time, Gippal gave a hearty laugh and returned her hug. "It's been too long, girlie," he told her, standing again and removing himself from the pool but not Rikku's clutches. "How've you been?"

"Miserable," she said grinning.

"Miserable," he chuckled. He then swept her up into his arms, and spun her around, enveloping into one more hug and she shrieked with laughter. "Why so miserable, kiddo?"

Setting Rikku lightly on her feet once more, she replied, "_E's yh umt syet! _My cousin just got married yesterday, and no one's even shown any interest in me."

Frowning for the first time since the beginning of their meeting, Gippal ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Slow down sweetheart. Yuna got married?"

Rikku nodded furiously. "_Oac_, to that _ikmo_ Seymour Guado!" Lowering her voice a bit, she spoke rapidly in Al Bhed. "_Cra rydac res! Ra'c cu lumt yht... ikr. Zicd aff." _

"How about that…" muttered Gippal to himself. "This really screws up my plan."

Rikku's green eyes widened. Speaking in an even quieter whisper, she asked, "Were _you_ thinking of marrying Yuna?"

At this, Gippal let out a snort. "Me and Yuna? No way. There's only way girl for me, sugar." At this, he winked at her, and Rikku laughed, punching him on the shoulder.

"Gippal, you're such a _bmyoan_, a playeryou shouldn't even joke about being a one man kinda guy. C'mon," she said, dragging him by the hand towards the kitchens. "Let's get something to eat."

"No really," Gippal protested. "Rikku, really, I am."

The high, tinkling sound of Rikku's twittering resounded off the high walls, as Gippal and Rikku left, entirely forgetting Yuna's breakfast.

Yuna stood outside on her balcony, where she could hear the whole castle slowly awakening. Most were still in a drunken stupor from the previous night's festivities. Glancing back into her bedroom, she saw her husband, still heavily sleeping, a wet spot on his pillow from where he had drooled, and she grimly decided he was still drunk as well. She wished him a pounding headache, or extreme dizziness, _anything_ to keep herself from the duties a wife gives to a husband.

Sighing, she looked over the city. Somewhere below, she thought she heard Rikku laughing. How many times had she heard that sound before? Her cousin was only a year younger than her, ripe for marriage. Once Rikku was wedded, she'd move to wherever her new husband lived, leaving Yuna alone.

Shuddering at the thought of being friendless in a loveless marriage, Yuna began to weep. She needed to find some way out. She'd run away to a temple in Bevelle, become a priestess! No, that was too close… She needed to go somewhere farther away. Maybe the Calm Lands… there she could be a chocobo farmer, a nursemaid, anything! Realizing her ideas were futile, Yuna sank to the floor, crying harder. On the ground, she saw the mirror Seymour had given her. She picked it up and glanced in it.

Stopping her weeping for a moment, she stared, entranced in the mirror. Her face was so white, so perfectly made… Her tears were so opaline, frosted. Angrily, she threw the mirror across the room, where it shattered in a corner. Yevon, she was beautiful, even when she was crying. Such a curse!

Hearing the noise of the breaking glass, Seymour stirred. Groggily, he called out for her. "Yuna? What was that noise?"

Mustering her strength, Yuna walked over to him, smiled and replied, "Nothing my husband." Inwardly grimacing, she stroked his hair. "Sleep, and later, when you awaken, we'll eat breakfast."

Once she was sure he was asleep again, Yuna picked up the pieces of broken glass. A shard caught the end of her finger. Sucking the blood from her hand, Yuna smiled bitterly. _Good_, she thought_. I hope it leaves a scar_.

* * *

It was night on the other side of Spira. _Zanarkand_ _is most beautiful at night_, Lulu thought, brushing her long, velvet locks. She was sitting on the end of her bed, dreamily brushing, stroke on stroke, while her husband was in the other room, watching the baby. Everything had never felt so perfect. 

Wakka walked into the bedroom, kissed his wife on the cheek and whispered,

"Vidina's asleep."

Lulu smiled at her husband, never having been so in love with him. "Thank you for putting her to bed," she said softly, not wanting to wake the child.

Wakka laughed quietly. "Anytime Lu. I know how tired you've been."

Lulu gave him a rare smile. "Mothering is harder work than you'd think." Putting the brush away and lying down into the soft cushions of the bed, Lulu faced Wakka. "When will we be able to go out into the city again? I miss strolling through, seeing my friends… Will we be able to attend court again soon?"

Wakka sighed. "Soon," he replied. "Being crown prince is hard, too. Dad hasn't wanted me to attend court at all, though, not until Vidina's at least a year old. He says we should spend time with her now, because it will be harder to in the years to come."

Lulu sat up and looked at him. "In the years to come? What does that mean? Why won't we be able to spend time with her? Is her sending her away, to school or a temple? Is he sending her away to be _married_? Wakka, what does that mean?"

Her eyes were flashing dangerously, and Wakka kissed her softly on the lips. "Don't worry, love. I think he means that he'll be gone soon, and I'll be king. You'll be my beautiful queen of all Zanarkand. We'll need to be rulers as well as parents, for Vidina and any other children we'll have. That's all."

Lulu sighed, and lay back down on the bed, and closed her eyes. She didn't want anything to change… "Speaking of which, Wakka, I need to tell you…"

Bursting into the room at that moment came a young man with ruffled blonde hair and a happy grin on his face.

"Wakka!" he shouted. "Wakka, where are you?"

Lulu sighed angrily, as she heard Vidina stir and begin to cry. Annoyed, she looked at her brother-in-law. "He's in there, Tidus," she said, pointing to the bedroom. "Next time you barge into our room, kindly remember that infants take forever to be put to sleep, and wake very easily." With a huff, Lulu took her child into her arms. Cooing softly, rocking her back and forth, she tried in vain to put the baby back to sleep.

Wakka smiled at his younger brother, and gave him a large hug. "Tidus, brother, how are you?"

Tidus grinned mischievously at his older brother, then said, "Never been better, Wakka!"

From the other room, Lulu whispered loudly, "_Hush_!"

Continuing in a whisper, Wakka smiled ruefully. "Sorry man, but be a bit quieter, ya?"

"No problem," replied Tidus, lowering his tone of voice. "Listen Wakka, I need a favor…"

_A/N_-

_Character Update- _

_Lulu- Andomache_

_Wakka- Hector_

_Vidina- Astyanax_

_I think this chapter's end was a little slow… I'm not too happy with that. Thoughts?_

_Next chapter—Some Rikku/ Gippal fluff, and maybe some Tidus/ Yuna? Hmmm…._

_Review please!!_


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